Crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers and the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) are pleased to announce their renewed commitment to fighting crime against copyright thieves in the UK.

FACT is the leading trade organisation for the protection of intellectual property. It works closely with statutory law enforcement agencies to combat all forms of piracy by detecting and targeting those involved with crimes impacting on its members, whether they be global film distributors, TV broadcasters or sports rights owners.

Now in its eighth year, the success of the partnership is well established with 20% of FACT’s intelligence sourced from information provided via Crimestoppers’ call bureau. Of all the reports received by FACT from Crimestoppers, approximately 1 in 5 go on to form part of an investigation.

Reflecting the landscape shift from hard goods to online piracy, over 75% of the Crimestoppers’ intelligence that contributes to a FACT case now relates to online or digital piracy in some form.

Rodger Holden, Crimestoppers Director of Business Development, said: “Intellectual Property theft is not a victimless crime. The creative industries actually support 1.68 million jobs in the UK and account for over 5% of the UK economy making their protection vital.”

Yvette Dore, Director of Communications, FACT, added: “The intelligence that we receive from the Crimestoppers’ bureau greatly contributes to our work at FACT – both as the starting point of new investigations and by filling in intelligence gaps or corroborating existing intelligence in on-going investigations.

Our relationship with Crimestoppers provides us with an enhanced intelligence picture which enables us to better protect our members’ content, and we are delighted and extremely proud to renew our partnership.”